Started Sailing

Sailing in Iceland :O)

by Lilja
(Akureyri,Iceland)

Hi,

My name is Lilja, I am 14 going on 15 and I live in the north of Iceland.

I have been sailing now for around 5 years and sailing is all I think about and the only thing I am capable of talking about (which can annoy my friends quite a lot).

I sail a Topper Topaz with my sailing partner Fríða. Next year i'm going to start practicing on Laser 4.7.

The last time I sailed was yesterday, the wind was from the north so it was quite chilly, but the waves were not too big.

I was sailing with an old friend, so it was pretty cool, because he is a really good sailor and we haven't seen each other in about a year.

We were practicing for Íslandsmót which is when all the dinghy sailors from all over Iceland meet up and compete. It is only 3 weeks away!

I first competed 3 years ago in an optimist. I did terribly.

I touched the top buoy almost every time I turned around it and then did not take the penalty for it, even though people where shouting at me.

I didn't treat it like a competition so when people overtook me, I just waved to them.

For some strange reason and I had only been to one practice before the race :S.

I came second to last and only because the girl in last place had to stop because she hit her head badly.

My first capsize was on an optimist. I was 10 and I screamed a lot, but the boy that was sailing with me calmed me down and then we just laughed our heads off until the speed boat came to get us. I love everything about sailing, absolutely everything.

I would like to try sailing somewhere hot or just somewhere not in Iceland :D.

Sailing in Iceland is excellent, but the only downside is that it gets too cold for us to sail in the winter, so that means around 5 months no sailing every year (pure agony) .

You can check out our club site http://www.nokkvi.iba.is.

It is all in Icelandic, but you can see the pictures which are interesting.

I have many sailing stories that are really funny and really weird, so many in fact that I don't know where to start ... so I won't :).

Thanks for listening :O).

Comments for Sailing in Iceland :O)

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Jul 23, 2009
Thanks for sharing!
by: Alex

Hi Lilja,

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us, it was a really interesting read!

I would love to hear more stories about sailing in Iceland since as you say, it is usch a cold place.

Have you ever tried ice sailing, by putting skis on the boat?

Best Regards,
Alex

Jul 27, 2009
It is not really that cold :P
by: Lilja

Even though it is called Iceland it really isn’t that cold during the summer...on average its around 15 to 17 degrees Celsius.. 20 if we are lucky. So no, I have not tried ice sailing.
our town is right by one of the best fjords in Iceland so its not to salty but really really cold. After awhile you get used to it but some people look horrified when they see us swimming by our boats when we capsize or just jumping out for fun. We are not allowed to capsize on purpose because the man who owns our club says it ruins the boats :( .So it was really fun when the sailing club from Reykjavik came for a practice week...there instructors got to do whatever they wanted with us for one day and we got to play the pirate game. It sounds really childish but it’s basically that you have to act like pirates. Knock other people off there boats, jump of your boat to another boat and try to capsize them...We even used beanbags as cannons and if you got hit by one you had to tip you boat yourself! It was just so fun. I was thrown off my boat and left floating for around 5 minutes before I could grab hold of a passing boat.
There where Lazers, Optimists and Topper Topazes all together...it was so fun. :O)
Do you play any games in your club or is it always serious sailing?

Jul 27, 2009
Hi again :)
by: Alex

Hi Lilja

I sail at school and at school we sometimes play pirates, but without the beany bags! I am surprised that Iceland can be so warm, I thought it was so cold! Maybe I am thinking of Greenland.

At my proper sailing club on the Welsh Harp, it is always serious sailing although I have done some intructing with kids and we played a ball game where all the Optimists had to collect as many balls as possible in the water, which was fun!

Best Regards,
Alex

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